Nelson homers late, Space Cowboys fall 2-1 to Isotopes

Sugar Land got the kind of pitching that should win a Triple-A game and still walked away with a 2-1 loss to Albuquerque on Friday night at Constellation Field.

The Space Cowboys held the Isotopes scoreless through five innings, with Ethan Pecko setting the tone and Josh Hendrickson carrying the middle innings, but the offense could not cash in early chances and left the club with no margin for error. Albuquerque finally broke through in the sixth with an infield single, a double and a groundout to take a 1-0 lead, then added a ninth-inning insurance homer before James Nelson answered in the bottom half with a solo shot that pulled Sugar Land within one.

That was as close as the rally came. Sugar Land fell for the fourth straight time to Albuquerque and slipped to 17-20, while the Isotopes improved to 22-15.

Pecko was sharp in 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five. He generated 11 swinging strikes on 39 total strikes, a 38% whiff rate that reflected how often Albuquerque was late or uncomfortable against his stuff. Hendrickson followed with 4.1 innings of relief, but the Isotopes eventually broke through against him and he was charged with the loss after allowing four hits and two runs. Antonio Mushinski got the win and Nick Shook earned the save.

Nelson provided the final jolt with his ninth-inning homer, continuing a strong run at the plate. The blast extended his on-base streak to 18 games, one of the longest active streaks in the Pacific Coast League, and it came with Nelson already producing a .322 average, a .352 on-base percentage and a .904 OPS with four homers and 11 RBI in 87 at-bats entering the game.

There was also a small but notable wrinkle in a night of tight margins: Sugar Land won its first-ever check-swing challenge, only the fifth such challenge in the Pacific Coast League this season. It was the kind of modern Triple-A detail that rarely decides a game by itself, but it underscored how much every call can matter in a one-run contest.

For a club that became the Houston Astros’ Triple-A affiliate in 2021, the result fit the pattern of a series that keeps coming down to a single swing. Sugar Land has beaten Albuquerque in recent seasons too, including a 6-5 comeback win on April 9, 2025 and an 8-1 win on May 30, 2025, but Friday belonged to the pitchers until Nelson finally changed the tone too late.